In Attendance 

George Pauley, President; Carlos Vargas, 1st Vice President; Sandra Goldberg, Secretary; Laura Cossa, Treasurer; Steve Hanna, Property Supervisor; Tim Patricio, Property Manager; Mavis Mather, Assistant Manager Business Operations; Michael Rupert, Assistant Manager of Security & Operations; Sara Kacheris, Administrative Assistant Resident Services

Absent

Phoebe Helm, 2ndVice President

Call to Order at 7:36 pm

Unit Owner Open Comments and Questions (Board and Management responses in italics)

Homeowner – Usually the payroll expense is about $17,000 per month but for November the payroll expense was about $41,500.  In Steve’s notes it says that $26,500 was due to change in managers.  Will this be a monthly expense due to the change in managers? Steve Hanna stated that this was due to the transition between Christina and Tim.  This will not be a monthly expense.

So someone got a $26,000 raise? No the $26,000 overage is a compilation of things, one being the separation agreement and also the federal law that mandates that all accrued and unused vacation is paid out when an employee leaves.  This will not happen next month. 

Homeowner – I am confused about what has gone on.  You have told us that Christina wanted to leave and was asking to leave.  I have never heard of a situation where an employee was asking to go to another property where the Board would give them a settlement.  I understand that if she was owed vacation time she would have to be paid for that time, even if she had a months vacation time coming that would have been about $6,000.  We are talking about $20,000.  I don’t understand why a Board that has said numerous times that they would like to cut expenses.  Why would you give that kind of separation agreement to someone who was asking to go to another building?  You say that you were just responding to her request to go to another building.  I would like the Board to comment on that. George Pauley stated that the Board could not make any comments on that.

But you have made comments about why she was leaving and I am trying to understand what you said was the reason that she left with this substantial amount of our money that was spent to get her to leave.  I am caught in this contradiction. George Pauley stated that what he said last time and the time before has not changed.  We cannot comment on that but you asked a question.  You said that you have never heard of this happening before and I would like Steve to comment on that. Steve Hanna stated that separation agreements were quite common especially in this business, to keep personal confidential information about the Association.  Separation agreements to happen regardless of why the person left, whether amicably or not.

This just seems like a lot of money, and in my mind it casts a doubt about the story about why Christina left. George Pauley stated that this was very similar to the separation agreements that employees received on the previous Board last year and in previous years.  Its almost identical.

But those employees were not asking to leave. George Pauley stated that there was an assumption about what was in that money.  The money is a combination of things.

It still adds up to a lot of money, about 1% increase of our assessments to pay for this. George Pauley stated that with Christina’s leaving we are saving a considerable sum of money.  If there is an impact on assessments it would be the reverse of that.  This would be a decrease not an increase.

Homeowner – Is Tim working for cheaper?  How are we saving money is he working for less money? George Pauley stated that personal issues could not be discussed in open meeting.

I would want him to ask the question.  When you were standing here you were acting the same way Sandy asking questions and being irate, we just want to make sure that you are watching our money and you are not doing it. George Pauley stated that there were multiple ways that we are saving money and we cannot go into details.

At the last budget and finance committee meeting you stated that you had talked to Draper and Kramer about lowering the monthly expense for the garage by $50.00 and I wanted to thank you about that. George Pauley stated that the Association was saving about $5,000 on the garage over the course of the next two years.  We have an agreement that they would renew the contract without an increase in two years.

Homeowner – How much are we saving in the management office to offset the separation expense? George Pauley stated that this is a combination of things and the bottom line is that we cannot go into the details of that but this is not causing an increase in assessments.

Can you tell us where it is coming from? George Pauley stated that he could not.  There were negotiations and those are to be kept private.

Homeowner – We have not gotten copies of the minutes since September, and we got those long ago.  Then we saw copies of September again and I was wondering if it was a mistake and we should have gotten October minutes this time. Tim Patricio stated that the secretary asked us to reissue September because they ran out very quickly at the front desk.  We consciously reissued those minutes.

But we have not received October at all. George Pauley stated that October’s minutes were approved at the last meeting and that November and December’s minutes are on the agenda to approve tonight.

Then also today when I entered the front elevator with my shopping cart I was told that I would have to use the back elevator.  Is this a new rule? Carlos Vargas stated that this was not a new rule, you should take the back door. Michael Rupert stated that this rule was not a new rule but it was one that we are now enforcing more strictly.

I think that this should be posted for people who don’t know about it or who are not familiar with this rule.  Michael Rupert stated that he would get a memo out about the rule.

Does this rule include the baby baskets or luggage? George Pauley stated that you cannot discriminate against people who are handicapped or against people with children.  So under federal law they are allowed to use the passenger elevator.  This is a rule and I didn’t realize that it hadn’t been enforced until recently but it has always been on the books and I thought that it had been enforced.  You don’t have to go through the loading dock but you can enter through the handicapped entrance. Michael Rupert stated that anything had to be loaded through the service elevators through the loading dock.  Any bags that you can carry can be carried through the front, but full carloads must use the loading dock.

Does luggage get carried through the front or the passenger elevators? Carlos Vargas stated that Saturday night he found someone with a big cart full of luggage and told him to use the service elevator.  Loose luggage such as suitcases can use the passenger elevator. 

Can we have clarification do the Rules and Regulations have clarification on what luggage can be taken through the passenger elevators? George Pauley stated that the rule would be looked up now for clarification.

There are lights on the deck late at night.  People are not supposed to be out there after 7PM, by keeping the lights on we are wasting electricity. George Pauley stated that the deck has been closed for the season and that the door was locked.

But the lights have been on every night. Sandra Goldberg stated that the lights were on for safety reasons, that there were stairs to the health club on the deck.  The engineer should be asked why the lights are left on. George Pauley stated that the stairs were on the other side and not by the deck.  We will have Tim look into the light situation.

The Rules state that bicycles, golf bags, laundry, open shopping carts, luggage racks and any large items must be transported via the service elevators only.  No wheeled items will be permitted in passenger elevators other than suitcases, wheel chairs and baby strollers.  So wheeled suitcases are okay.

Homeowner – Can I just return to the $26,000 separation agreement. George Pauley stated that there was not a $26,000 separation payment. There was a $26,000 variance.

But I understand that we ended up paying $26,000, is that correct? George Pauley stated that there was not a $26,000 separation just variance.

So there was no money paid to this lady, is that what you are saying? George Pauley stated that was not what he was saying.

I understand that you are constrained with discussing it through the law, but was the agreement made in terms of when this lady worked and any payment thereto, was this subject to any independent assessment?  You can understand the concern that the homeowners have since it was their money spent, while I appreciate that you have to act in good faith as a Board and I am sure that management acted in good faith.  Was this agreement reviewed by any outside assessment or council? Steve Hanna stated that the Association attorney reviewed the agreement. George Pauley stated that the agreement was reviewed by the Attorney, Management, and the Board.

And all parties were in agreement that this was an appropriate expenditure of money? George Pauley stated that what was understood was that this was typical for the industry standards.

Homeowner – The door at the cleaners is so difficult to open.  It’s so heavy especially when it is windy.  Is there anything we can do for this?  Secondly is there anything that we are doing to make the garage handicapped accessibility more secure? George Pauley stated that he, Tim, and Michael were down on both levels of the garage earlier today to go over proposed plans that they had gotten.  Tim has been working with engineers on various ways to redo the access on both levels.  The rest of the Board is going to take a tour of the garage tomorrow night.  There are documents with different proposals.  We are moving forward on this.

When Christina was here we talked about the way that the put the blocks back, they did it wrong.  It’s difficult to get to and from my car from the way that it is parked.  The hikers get my car and park it for me all the time because they are afraid that I will fall again.  They moved the blocks for one tenant before.  It made the floor look not as good. George Pauley stated that he knew that Michael had been accommodating to different people in moving the blocks at the request of the parker.

They didn’t move mine, Christina sent me a letter a year ago that they were going to fix the problem but then nothing happened. George Pauley asked Michael to arrange a time for Susan to show him the blocks. Michael Rupert stated that he knew what the problem was and that he would get it taken care of. George Pauley apologized that it had taken a year but that it would be taken care of. Carlos Vargas stated that there was a good point about the door, maybe we could look into getting an automatic door for the cleaners. Sandra Goldberg stated that as long as we were going to look into the request for an automatic door for the cleaners could we again look into the request for an automatic door for the laundry room, which is also difficult to open. George Pauley stated that the electric door openers were also being considered for the handicapped door on 1P and 2P.  It would be a good time to look into the doors.  It might be cheaper to get them all replaced at once..

Homeowner – This question is for Tim.  You were to be here for a temporary time, 6 months and then leave.  It seems goofy to train you, have you leave, and have to train someone else.  What is your feeling about openness and transparency and all the things that Sandra always advocated?  How often will you be open?  Are you going to stay here? George Pauley stated that Tim had been made the permanent manager.  I thought that we had put up a notice on this. Tim Patricio stated that his philosophy for management is that he presents the facts for you to make decisions.  My purpose is to gather the facts and information that you need to make your decisions. 

We had problems with managers who did not take 2 hours a week to walk a floor and go around the building to get to know the people.  Would you spend a couple of hours walking around and knowing your staff? I cannot promise that every single week I will make it out, days like today I was in the office all day long meeting with people.  I have spoken to a member of your home improvement committee.  Ideally, I would have a weekly walk through where I would target different areas at random.  We are developing an inspection report that I would turn in to the Board as part of the weekly report.  In a perfect world this would be weekly.

Would it be inappropriate if on each floor we had a little box for people to put comments in to collect every two weeks to respond to people’s comments.  At different times people feel frustrated and call the office and nothing happened.  A little box attached to the wall would be helpful. Carlos Vargas stated that we had a comment box it has been there for 30 years in front of where you come in.  I would not like to see more boxes on my floor.  It took us 10 years to get rid of the ashtrays that were on each floor.  I would not like to see any more boxes ever.

Maybe in the next letter we can write that there is a suggestion box in the lobby for any of the owners who have concerns and respond to them. Carlos Vargas stated that we have been telling people for years, I am not going to lead anybody by the hand.

Homeowner – Pertanant to the newsletter in the next issue there will be two pages dedicated to recycling and writing out what can be recycled and where it is to go.  I had a suggestion for improving on one of the locations.  They said that this might need Board approval.  Basically on 2-P there is a large spacious nook that could fit 3 bins for recycling. George Pauley stated that this looked like a really great suggestion.  This would be moving the recycling bins to a better location on 2-P.  This location is right outside of the freight elevators and would make it much more convenient to people for recycling.  I think that this is an excellent idea.  The Board would like to direct the staff to create this recycling area.  I think that we get a lot of great suggestions through the office or the Board from residents taking a look at this type of thing.

Amendment to Agenda

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve adding health club purchases to the agenda as action item 8.

Motions from Closed Session

A. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve insurance fines.  B.  Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted to approve installation of a washer and dryer.  George Pauley, Carlos Vargas, Sandra Goldberg, and Laura Cossa voted against; the motion failed.  C.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Laura Cossa, the Board voted unanimously to approve a $1,000.00 fine and to recommend eviction procedures.  D.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to approve an extension until January 30, 2008 for the unit to comply with the Rules and Regulations.  E.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to deny the owners request.  F. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Laura Cossa, the Board voted unanimously to not waive a late fee.  G.  Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to not waive a late fee.  H. Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to not waive a late fee.  I. Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to deny an employee request.  George Pauley, Sandra Goldberg, and Laura Cossa voted in favor; Carlos Vargas voted against; the motion passed.

Minutes November 19, 2007 Board Meeting

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes from the Board of Directors Meeting held on November 19, 2007 with corrections by the Board secretary.

Minutes December 10, 2007 Board Meeting

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes from the Board of Directors Meeting held on December 10, 2007 with corrections by the Board secretary.

Amending Approved Garage Audit

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to approve amending the previously approved garage audit contract with Nyborg & Company for the 2006/07 financial statements to include March 2007 and April 2007 at a cost not to exceed $7,500.00; this will allow the garage audit to also serve as a turn over audit.  Carlos Vargas opposed the up front fee.

Garage Ramp Access Drawings

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas, the Board voted unanimously to remove this item from the agenda.

Laura Cossa left the Board Meeting at 8:28 pm.

Owner Comments Regarding Annual Meeting Forms

George Pauley stated item 6 is a change to the format of the ballots for our annual election. He said that Vince brought it to our attention that a number of the ballots were disqualified in the last election because of people who have multiple units voting all of those votes on one ballot which then resulted in their having split votes, which is not allowed under our Declaration. Before the next election in June, we want to have a better ballot to prevent people from making this mistake so their votes will be counted. We have two proposals. One of them says people with multiple units have to vote each unit on a separate ballot, a similar ballot to what we have now. If you have six units, you have to fill out six ballots. The other proposal is a ballot which allows you to vote up to four units on one ballot, which would hopefully prevent the problem of split votes. I would like to open this to the homeowners.

A Homeowner stated that in the past I have always been able to vote on one ballot, they suggested that we do it this way, so was it not valid this time? Tim Patricio stated that he would like to explain this in better detail.  There are a couple of different possibilities.  Firstly, and I don’t know that we had problems with this, but fractional voting, for example, 1.5 votes, would discount your ballot.  The more common problem was that if you had three units you had three votes per unit.  If you gave one owner two votes, another owner five, and the last owner two votes there would be no way to correctly apply your percentage ownership to the votes since the votes were not evenly split.  Neither the committee nor the people counting the votes would be able to apply the votes evenly.  Your ballot would be thrown out.  There are two different ways to correct this, one is to have a ballot with columns for multiple units, or what typically is done with most associations, you have one ballot per unit, and that ballot is only worth a percentage of ownership for that unit.  If you had three units you would have three ballots and would apply as separately as percent of ownership and none of the proxies would be thrown out.

George Pauley  asked if that was understandable., Tim’s explanation?  Because each unit has a different percentage of ownership, when you vote that way and give a candidate two votes, the committee does not know if you meant two votes of your two bedroom unit or two votes of your studio.

Tim Patricio said the only way it would work is if you take your nine votes and gave one person all of your nine votes or gave one person six votes and the other person three votes.

A Homeowner stated that he assumed that the ballot that would be more fail proof would be the best ballot to use.  We have many people in the building where English is not the a comfortable language so each ballot counting for one unit seems best. Tim Patricio stated that this was the ballot that Draper and Kramer recommended.

A Homeowner stated that in the name of saving paper the multiple unit ballot would be better. George Pauley stated that they wanted to try to do was to pick the ballot that people in general would think that the least amount of mistakes would be made and the least amount of ballots would be thrown out.  None of us who are seated at the table were watching the ballots being counted.  Vince, who was watching, stated that there were a number of ballots that were thrown out for this reason.

A Homeowner stated that having served on the election committee for counting the ballots, it would be much easier to have one ballot for every unit rather than putting them all on one.  The other ballot makes it to easy to make more mistakes.

A Homeowner stated that he would like the Board to consider that there are people who go around collecting ballots and would then white out the votes and put in who they would want to be voted for since they already had a signature.  I think that in the future anybody that has a ballot where the votes are whited out or changed should be disqualified. George Pauley stated that ballots such as that were automatically disqualified.

A Homeowner stated that the ballots should state not to use white out or cross outs. George Pauley stated that this would be added to the ballots. Carlos Vargas stated that he didn’t think that the percentage of ownership was necessary on the ballot. Tim Patricio stated that you would not need to print the percentage on the ballot since the company who totals the votes has a system where the percentages are automatically entered on their computer.

A Homeowner stated that if the Board chose the single ballot they should not include the percentage of ownership. George Pauley stated that he was just informed that whereas white out is not allowed on the ballot, you can cross out your votes and initial it to make it legal.  We do not want to encourage this but legally if it is lined out and initialed it is valid. Tim Patricio stated that we could explain this in the ballot instructions that are sent out when notices are issued.

A Homeowner stated that you cannot tell just from initials if it is the actual persons signature.

A Homeowner stated that the company does compare the signatures and the initials with forms on file. George Pauley stated that this would not be encouraged since we can provide new copies of the ballots.  Last year there were copies at the front desk so that if somebody messed up they could get a new one.

A Homeowner Asked if there was any limit on the number of units that a person can own? Sandra Goldberg stated that there was a limit in the Rules of the Association.

If one person owns 10 units they own 10 votes, so the voting is not done by population but by unit? George Pauley stated that he did not think that there was a limit to the amount of units that could be owned. Tim Patricio stated that management would look into this and get back to the Board at the next meeting. Sandra Goldberg requested a straw vote among the owners in attendance to see who would prefer the one ballot per apartment approach and who would prefer the multiple units per ballot approach. George Pauley stated that the majority of people were in favor of the one ballot per unit approach.  Is there a reason that some owners preferred the multiple unit to one ballot approach?

A Homeowner stated that it seemed like a waste of paper if multiple unit owners had to vote each one separately.  They should be able to vote on one ballot. Sandra Goldberg agreed that multiple ballots seemed like a waste of paper. George Pauley stated that the way that the ballots are sent out every unit would receive a ballot even if they owned multiple units.  Legally we must send out one notice to each unit, if you own 10 units you will receive 10 notices.

A Homeowner stated that even for assessments if you own multiple units Draper and Kramer should only send out one statement and not multiples.  It would save on postage. Mavis Mather stated that any owner could request getting only one statement for their units.  They just need to call the office.

A Homeowner stated that since one ballot had to be mailed out to every unit it would make more sense to approve the one ballot per unit.  If you send the ballot with space for more than one unit to everyone you are giving them three or four votes.  There is potential for much more confusion. George Pauley stated that his experience on the election committee has told him that if there is a way for someone to do something wrong they will.  I am for making it as simple as possible.

Annual Meeting Ballot and Proxy Form

Upon due motion by Carlos Vargas and seconded by Sandra Goldberg, the Board voted unanimously to changing the annual ballot format to a format of one ballot per unit discontinuing allowing multiple unit owners to vote for all units on the same ballot.

Distribution of Proposed Budget

There will be a special meeting held for the distribution of the budget next week.

George Pauley said that currently he would explain what has gone on with the budget. The budget that was given to the Board, which was a budget with no increase to the assessments. The original budget from Christina showed approximately an 8% increase in assessments. Through the Board and the management and the Budget and Finance Committee having many meetings and working on this very hard, I believe we are now at 4% if we do not increase our reserve contribution. We on the board want to talk about how much to increase the reserve contribution. We are not talking about whether or not to make a reserve contribution because at 4% we would be making the same amount of contribution to the reserve as was made last year. As you know, the Board and Budget and Finance Committee, more than anybody and Tim. It was not easy getting it down from 8% to 4%. As you know, the first action this Board took last July was to cancel the driveway project, which would have come to about $600,000. Canceling the driveway project gave us a better place with the budget. Right now, we have about 1.5 million in reserves. If we had proceeded with the driveway project, we would be at about $900,000 in the reserve fund. We are looking at how we are going to deal with the reserve fund. We also have a couple other areas that we are looking at in terms of possibly making some cuts. We will have an open meeting to discuss the whole proposed budget. That is where it stands.

Purchase of Health Club Equipment

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by George Pauley, the Board voted to approve the purchase of 3 new industrial fans, mats, and dumbbell weights.  George Pauley and Sandra Goldberg voted in favor; Carlos Vargas voted against; the motion failed.

Treasurer’s Report (Sandra Goldberg for Laura Cossa)

According to the November 30, 2007 Financial Statements the total operating funds were $101,128.68.   The MAX SAFE account at Barrington Bank totaled $347,131.07.   The total replacement reserves fund was $1,499,608.16.  The total of all cash and investments was $1,736,084.  Last month it was $1,641,000.

Board Report (George Pauley)

My report is to say where we are at with the Budget process; I have no further comments other than what was already said.

Management Report (Tim Patricio)

I have some items and current business to update you on.  With the cooling tower project I have some details.  First of all Elara is still expecting the project not to exceed $300,000 in expense; we had already given the Board the preliminary estimate of $350,000.  If they can keep it at or below $300,000 we will be saving money based on our current projection.  They have given me some numbers about the savings; they expect the new technology to save the building about 15-20% on electric verses the existing cooling tower.  I have asked for more details to I can try to give you a dollar amount of what that means in terms of kilowatt hours and dollars.  I have informed the Board that I expect to request that a special Board meeting be called once Elara has the specifications and bids ready so that if they so choose we can buy us some time to get the work done this spring as originally discussed.  Elara still expects to be ready for this meeting in the next couple of weeks.

The garage handicapped access we have already talked about.  I have invited the Board to join me tomorrow to discuss the specifics of what we are looking at with this project.  I have already met with the committee, some of the interested homeowners, an engineering firm and a contractor.  I have received some preliminary bids so that we know what the cost will be for different types of changes.  I hope to be able to provide more specifics after tomorrow.  I will be refining the scope and specifications for this project and hopefully have something for the Board to approve as far as specifications for the next meeting.

One question at the last meeting was regarding the receiving room and whether UPS would deliver to the individual units.  We asked this question to our UPS representative and were told that if the building has a receiving room they will not go to individual units.  We are going to escalate our contact with UPS to get the answer that we want.  There is no guarantee but we will do what we can.

George Pauley had mentioned the planters and I have gotten some preliminary bids similar to the garage handicapped access and I don’t anticipate having something by the next meeting but hopefully we will be in the same spot that we are now with the garage project where you will have some preliminary ideas to take a look at.  I have been working with one contract to help develop the specifications that the Board can look at before we go out to bid.

We have started some meetings with the laundry company, Universal, whose contract is coming up.  If any owners have issues with the laundry room that you are aware of please communicate with myself, Mavis, or Sara.  Right now we have some leverage with them with the contract.  I did meet with Carlos Vargas and Gregor Hamilton and was able to bring their issues to them.  We hope to see some improvements there.  One thing that we did, they gave us a machine that allows us to read the laundry cards to that when people move out we can issue the refund directly.  We do not have to wait for Universal to issue a refund.  This was one improvement that they gave us right away when we asked for it.  Also if there is a problem with a card you can bring it to us and we should be able to read it and transfer the value to another card.  So this was one small improvement.

George Pauley asked if this information could be included in the next news letter. Tim Patricio stated that we are going to post a notice about this too, but it caught us off guard that we got the machine the day after we met with the company.

A Homeowner asked if he lost his laundry card could he bring us the serial number that is written on his card? Tim Patricio stated that if the card is lost there is nothing that we can do. Mavis Mather stated that the machine that we have reads the chip in the card and not the account numbers. Sandra Goldberg stated that there seemed to be some lag time between when a machine is broken and the time that a tech comes out to repair it, can you bring this up to universal.  Also some of the machines are dirty on the inside and need to be cleaned. Tim Patricio stated that we did talk to them a little about that; this was one issue that was brought up to us.  I think that what I would encourage is that if you are aware of a machine like that please tag it out and notify us so that we can notify Universal immediately.  This way we can be involved directly with the communication.

A Homeowner asked if we could get more front load machines because they save more electricity.  Can we get more front loads and save on our bills. Sandra Goldberg stated that she spoke with another building where they took out all their machines and replaced them with front loads.  There is a problem with the front loads.  You have to use a particular detergent.  If you use a different detergent it causes problems with the machines.  That building ended up taking out all of the front loads and put back in the other ones.

A Homeowner stated that you do have people who use to much detergent but that the problem also arises with the other models. Sandra Goldberg stated that she recalled there being a special type and not just using to much detergent. 

A Homeowner stated that the previous building that he lived in had front load washers.  There was a continuous problem with machines flooding over onto the floor.  Sometimes it was oversudsing but at least overflow has not been a problem in our laundry room.

A Homeowner stated that it is a problem that people use too much detergent; maybe a sign could be put in the laundry room. Sandra Goldberg stated that the front loads would be a problem because they flood the floor.

A Homeowner stated that this was only because they use too much detergent. George Pauley stated that there was also the issue that you cannot use regular detergent in a front loader, you have to buy special detergent.

A Homeowner stated that when the machines were replaced they did not renovate the water lines that send the water into the machines.  When you are at the bottom of the plumbing stack a lot of sludge gets into the lines and the water does not get distributed properly or well for those machines.  I was wondering if we could replace some of the gaskets dripping water into the washers.  Some of the machines do not have hot water or do not have much hot water.  This needs to be looked at. Tim Patricio stated that this does need to be looked at and was one of the problems that we went over this.  There are a number of reasons why some of the machines do not get hot water, but those are some of the reasons.

A Homeowner stated that when the replaced the machines they did not replace any of the piping. All of that piping is original and at least 30 years old.  For our combined unit we bought the new front loader machines and you need an education to run those, it is very difficult.  Unfortunately because people do not own the machines they may not care if they run them correctly. Carlos Vargas stated that he did not remember when the machines were replaced in the laundry room.

A Homeowner stated that the machines had been replaced more than once.  Part of the last contract was that the laundry room would be redecorated, painted, and the machines were replaced.  There was one point where some of the piping was replaced as well.   There were new wash stations at both ends that were put in.  We also put in new folding tables and countertops.  At one point some of the piping was addressed but nothing has been done since then.  When the machines were replaced they were converted to the card system. Tim Patricio stated that Universal indicated that they would be making some changes to the machines and they did not recommend an increase in the rate. Sandra Goldberg stated that the driers continue to not dry.

A Homeowner asked that Universal do regular service, the driers are variable in time, they are supposed to run a specific length of time but they actually vary.  To me that means that they do not service the machines properly.  The same is true to a lesser extent of the washers in my experience.

Just going through some of the details of the month there were 21 work orders completed, with a total charge back of $1,438.  Health Club income with 14 memberships added and renewed was $4,403.  We have a new line item on the report to track the total number of memberships so you can see if we are going down or up.  December’s total memberships were 232 memberships and as of the report date in January we have had 242 for an increase over the last few weeks.  We had one sale and four rentals in December.  There were 51 late fees in December, the second highest in the past year.  Last month in November there were only 19 late fees.  Sales report for 2007; 5 studios sold for an average of $124,000; 16 1-bedrooms sold for an average of $192,000; 10 2-bedrooms sold for an average of $344,000; total sales are 31 for an average of $220,000.

George Pauley asked for the combined unit to be removed off the 2-Bedroom sales list for future reporting.

A Homeowner asked if this number was in the average. George Pauley stated that it was listed in the average for the 2-Bedroom sales.

Carlos Vargas asked about his mother getting a letter about her health club stating that she would have an extra two months; does this mean that she has another two months before she needs to renew her membership? Mavis Mather stated that when the pool was down everyone’s memberships were extended for 2 months at the time that they expired. Sara Kacheris stated that she would be able to come down or give her card to have the two months added to her membership.

Garage Report(Michael Rupert)

The garage net income had a negative variance of $876 for the month.  Year to date this variance is positive $2,178.  Last week we created space 110 on 1-P; this space will be rented out at a premium rate of $115 per month. All of the significant variances are included in the garage report.

George Pauley stated that we were in the process of increasing the number of spaces in the garage.  More importantly we now have an additional 12 spaces that Standard was not billing for.

ASCO Report (Lorraine Meyers)

The ASCO meeting was Tuesday January 8th.  What we were mostly concerned with was the letter from Alderman Smith that was listed in the problem solver column in the Chicago Tribune.  There was a woman that was trying to get the condo Board changed for a problem that she had and she went to Alderman Smith about it and she is quoted.  “Condo Boards that live by a different kind of law unfortunately, it’s kind of like the wild west in some of these condo buildings.”  ASCO took offence at this and wrote a letter back to the Alderman.  As the organizational representative of the residents of over 6,677 units and 30 community association buildings on Sheridan Road we object to your statement.  We believe that it shows disrespect to the hundreds of Board and Committee members who run these buildings; many of whom are responsible for multimillion dollar budgets; all of whom are unlike you volunteers who donate their time.  We are waiting for a response from this.  Toyota is expanding their work buying properties on the west side of Broadway.  They are going to tear down that building and put up a whole new structure.  On the east side of Broadway, they are going to expand what they already have.  They are increasing quite a bit.  The new building that is going to be done where the church is, The Andrew, is still in the works, the builder is not going to use TIF money because he is not going to have as many parking spaces.  I don’t know what the new proposals are because they have not been shown to ASCO yet.  He is hoping to take it to the Planning and Zoning Committee in March.  There is still organized opposition to his proposal.  He needs the okay from the church to change the parking spaces and needs the okay from the Admiral and the Planning and Zoning Committee.  I understand that he is having problems getting funding.  Earth Day is going to be celebrated on April 12th.  ASCO is going to take part in the celebration and will have out more information next month on their position and what they are going to do.  The annual meeting of ASCO is going to be March 4, 2008 for the election of the officers.  On June 18, 2008 there will be another meeting on the life safety code; the city is changing what we need and what we don’t need.  Nookies has started the renovation on their building.  They have been tearing down the walls on the inside to enlarge it.  This is on the corner of Bryn Mawr and Winthrop.  The bricklodge on the underpass will be worked on this summer and will be finished off this summer.

Carlos Vargas asked if there was any update with Dominick’s. Lorraine Meyers stated that there was nothing going on with this property.

Committee Reports

Betty Terry-Lundy stated that the newsletter is finished but that she was going to make changes to reflect items mentioned tonight.

Adjournment

Upon due motion by Sandra Goldberg and seconded by Carlos Vargas the meeting adjourned at 9:25 pm.

Signed (as seen on pdf, clickable at upper right corner of these minutes)

George Pauley, President

Sandra Goldberg, Secretary